It's just too easy, even without the obvious parallel background history of whisperings -- fair or not -- that Nutting has been secretively pocketing profits over the years without investing much back into the on-field product.

Pirates management, after all, are open to criticism, as they have displayed all the candor of BP executives.

In any case ... like Bob Nutting and Capt. Louis Reynaud, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are "Shocked -- Shocked! -- to discover incompetence in this organization."Other than that, everything's been great the past 17 years. The ballpark's nice, and the food is good. The team's won two in a row, and the Bucs finally have some good young talent to build upon. In fact, quite a few players on the team (and in the minors) are talented, promising and likeable, gosh darn it -- there is much to feel good about.

We're still fans, and we still care. So, we've got that going for us. And it's the first day of summer.